The real winner of the Kristaps Porzingis trade is Luka Doncic

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – FEBRUARY 17: Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks shoots over CJ McCollum #3 of the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half at the Smoothie King Center on February 17, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana, The real winner of the Kristaps Porzingis trade is Luka Doncic. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

It’s official. If nothing else, the Dallas Mavericks’ widely-disparaged Kristaps Porzingis trade that sent him to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans has ignited a fire within Luka Doncic. The young star seems determined to prove that it was the right move, putting together one breathtaking performance after another.

Porzingis had already been missing games even before the trade due to injury, but Luka has gone insane since Feb 10. In the four games since KP was jettisoned, Doncic is averaging 41.5 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 7.0 assists on 28.3 FGA (!!) and beautiful 48/46/71 shooting splits.

The real winner of the Kristaps Porzingis trade is Luka Doncic

People don’t think of Luka as a gunner, but he leads the league in field goal attempts per game (21.7) by almost an entire shot over second-place Devin Booker. The trade of Porzingis has inspired Doncic to prove that he can do it all without his former sidekick.

The Mavericks are 3-1 since the trade and 16-9 without Porzingis overall this season, compared to 19-15 with him. Porzingis wasn’t shooting well enough from three to be an effective floor-spacer, and his random post-ups often cluttered the lane for a driving Doncic.

Luka has shot an absurd 83 percent at the rim since the trade. He sees fewer bodies there than ever before, as the Mavs now rely upon four and five-out offenses virtually 100 percent of the time.

Look how easy it is for Luka to get to the hoop, with three guys stationed outside the arc and the fourth, Dwight Powell, setting a high screen:

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1492725220855226376

The Mavericks’ playing small often forces opponents to downsize, which means guards (like Reggie Jackson in the clip above) are often the ones rotating over to help on Doncic’s drives. Doncic’s size allows him to completely ignore these small help defenders.

Another fun wrinkle the Mavs like to play with is having the recently-extended Dorian Finney-Smith set the pick and then roll hard into the dunker spot, giving Luka a clean drive for a lay-up or a dump-off to DFS for the easy bucket.

Porzingis’ defense has come and gone throughout the years, depending on his health, but he was definitely an asset this season on that end. The Mavs are banking that a fully-healthy Maxi Kleber and an inspired Dwight Powell will be able to absorb his rim-protection duties. The sample size is too small to know for sure, but Kleber, in particular, has looked up to the task so far, with five blocks against the Miami Heat.

Luka has been better on defense this season than in seasons past, but he will need to step it up another level if the Mavericks want to keep their top-ten defensive rating for the rest of the season.

Jalen Brunson and newly-added Spencer Dinwiddie can both provide the sort of dribble-drive offensive juice that the Mavs have lacked for so long, so Luka should be able to give up a bit of offensive load to carry more weight on defense.

The jury’s still out on whether the KP trade was the right call or not. If you ask Luka, though, the answer is a resounding yes.